My copy of
Dead of Winter
has finally arrived; I pre-ordered it in December of last year. With
images; cc-by-sa on
everything insofar as I'm able to assert it.

The box as delivered, obviously with labels obscured.

Plaid Hat Games took what's increasingly becoming the only sensible
approach to international delivery: drop-ship the whole consignment to
a games company within the EU, so that any customs fees can be dealt
with between professionals rather than the usurious approach taken by
Royal Mail and other couriers who deal with the end user. The
receiving company then sends it out by local post from there.

Contents: one shrinkwrapped game box, one Kodiak Colby promo pack. The
fancy gloss coating on the box appeared to have been slightly damaged
by the shrink-wrapping.

The counter sheets: survivors, zombies, and various trackers. Also the
main colony game board.

Under the boards: cards, dice, and lots and lots of plastic holders
for the various survivor and zombie figures.

Dead of Winter is a semi-cooperative game in the rough mould of
Shadows over Camelot:
each player is trying to keep the colony of human survivors going in
the face of the zombie hordes and the freezing weather, but will also
have a personal goal. For most of these, you can win if the colony
survives the basic scenario and you complete that goal; in a few
cases, you'll be actively working against the colony, while trying not
to be revealed as a traitor. Maybe there'll be one of those among the
group, maybe not. Even without that, you'll face lots of choices
between advancing the overall goal (which other players will also be
doing) and taking steps towards your personal success.

Even without a traitor, each turn is a balancing act between using
resources to resolve that turn's problem, killing zombies, and
gathering resources for future turns. Using resources creates waste,
which needs to be cleared away or more zombies will be attracted to
the colony. Gathering resources risks exposure or zombie attack, and
attracts zombies to the location where the search is going on.

What particularly attracted me to the game is the crossroads card
mechanic. Every turn, the player to the active player's right draws
one of these cards, which will have a condition on it (e.g. "if the
player receives a wound"); if it comes up, the main text is read, and
the player has a choice to make (often choosing between two poor
alternatives) which helps to define the character and build the story
of that particular game.